Republican Budget Makes the Wrong Choices

The Republican budget resolution for 2013 abandons the economic recovery, contains policies thatship American jobs overseas, and harms our nation's economic competitiveness. Like last year, the Republican budget ends the Medicare guarantee, shifts the burden of rising health care costs onto seniors, and shreds our nation's social safety net – all in order to expand tax breaks for millionaires and protect special interests. These are bad choices for America.

The Republican priorities – cutting taxes for special interests and the wealthy while achieving deficit reduction solely through drastic spending cuts, particularly to Medicare and Medicaid – represent the wrong choices for America. The results of these choices will adversely affect American workers and families now and for years to come.

Democrats will preserve Medicare, spur job creation, and reduce the deficit responsibly — Democrats want to put the budget on a fiscally responsible path but do so in a different way – by making choices that protect working Americans, that preserve the Medicare guarantee, and that reduce the deficit responsibly by balancing spending cuts with increased revenue from closing special interest tax loopholes and asking the very wealthy to share responsibility for reducing the deficit.

This week, Democrats offered amendments to the Republican budget resolution in the House Budget Committee that reflect these priorities: investments to promote job creation, maintaining Medicare and the social safety net, and responsible deficit reduction through policy choices that ask everyone to pay their fair share. Next week, Democrats will offer a substitute budget resolution on the House floor that reflects the need to make wise investments to spur job growth, to provide security for the middle class, and to put the budget on a fiscally sustainable path.